Joel Bird, artist, builder and garden designer on BBC's Your Garden Made Perfect, can reinvent the smallest of spaces with the tightest of budgets – especially when it comes to small gardens.
If you're thinking about transforming your small outdoor space this year, Joel shares his top tips for making the most of small garden spaces, even if you have little or no budget.
"With a small space my motto is 'think big'. I always try to get some height in a small space, having different heights is a good idea," says Joel, who won the first Shed of the Year competition in 2014 with his Allotment Roof Shed – an actual allotment on the roof of his shed.
An easy way to achieve heights is through planting. Whether in a border or using containers, following a short-to-tall format will give your planting scheme some structure.
Secondly, Joel says, if possible, always try to cover or disguise the corners of a small space. "If the eye has different points of interest, then it moves from place to place and if we cannot see the corners of a garden we cannot subconsciously calculate that the space is small," he explains.
So what's the third tip? "My other mantra is to simplify in order to be bold, so choose one or two ideas and really go for them instead of choosing 10 ideas that have less of an impact," suggests Joel. "It might be a beautiful seating area within a herb garden, it might be painting the whole area in just two bright colours with dramatic tropical planting. Or it might be something quirky like building a trendy tiki bar area.
"In some ways it is easier to be bold and take chances in a garden because a garden is constantly evolving, so if a bright colour or a planting scheme doesn’t quite work you can adapt it or start again. The garden for me is the most valuable space in the home because of its power to bring us peace and to raise our spirits."
Author of The Book of Shed: How to create your perfect garden office, room or space, Joel has years of experience working on a range of projects from mega builds to handmade artisanal furniture.
The Book of Shed: How to create your perfect garden office, room or space
"There are always things you can do with either a limited or even no budget at all to transform a space. I know this because this has been such a large part of my life," says Joel. "I have always gardened on a budget. I moved from Liverpool to London as an artist and a musician and this inevitably meant I only ever had the money to pay rent and buy food.
"But I always gardened, I would grow my own crops in a tiny little space in a shared garden. I would use all kinds of old containers to grow things – old tyres and plastic manhole drains – and I would always grow herbs in a window box. Whatever space you have, whether it is a large garden, a small back yard or just a balcony, you can transform it."
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16 great books for gardening and indoor plant inspiration
RHS How to Create your Garden: Ideas and Advice for Transforming your Outdoor Space
Adam Frost's practical, no-nonsense approach will help you plan and build a garden that works for you. The Gardeners' World presenter takes you step by step through the whole process, from simple garden design ideas to a full garden makeover.
Modern Container Gardening: How to Create a Stylish Small-Space Garden Anywhere
Isabelle Palmer shows you how to make the most of every little space with a series of projects for small gardens, singular containers and window boxes, that can be completed in a day or weekend. Perfect for novice gardeners, Modern Container Gardening offers beautiful photography and clear step-by-step instructions.
National Trust School of Gardening: Practical Advice from the Experts
The National Trust employs over 500 gardeners with an extraordinary wealth of expertise. And now, in this in-depth guide, they pass on their wisdom and provide the answers any new and seasoned gardener is looking for. This book is intended to give you inspiration and confidence to make the most of your garden, without being overwhelmed with unnecessary technical detail.
Veg in One Bed: How to Grow an Abundance of Food in One Raised Bed, Month by Month
Veg In One Bed explains how to build your bed and grow from seed, as well advice on planting, feeding, and harvesting. YouTube gardening star Huw Richards shows how to guarantee early success by starting off young plants on a windowsill and suggests what to grow in each part of the bed.
DK The Complete Gardener: A Practical, Imaginative Guide to Every Aspect of Gardening
Monty Don offers straightforward gardening advice in this book, revealing the secrets of growing vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs, while respecting the needs of the environment by gardening organically. You can also enjoy a tour of his Herefordshire garden, including his flower garden, herb garden, kitchen garden, and more.
The Practical House Plant Book by the RHS contains a dozen step-by-step projects to help you assemble an eye-catching terrarium, create a floating kokedama 'string garden', or propagate succulents. Complete with 175 in-depth plant profiles, this is an essential practical guide for indoor gardeners.
Ten Speed Press Small Garden Style: A Design Guide for Outdoor Rooms and Containers
A small garden space – an urban patio, a tiny backyard, or even just a pot by your door – doesn't have to sacrifice style. In Small Garden Style, garden designer Isa Hendry Eaton and lifestyle writer Jennifer Blaise Kramer show you how to use good design to create a joyful, elegant, and exciting yet compact outdoor living space.
No Dig Garden Charles Dowding's No Dig Gardening: From Weeds to Vegetables Easily and Quickly: Course 1
Charles Dowding, innovator of no dig, teaches you everything you need to know about this method of organic gardening. With 19 chapters, you'll learn how to use no dig on different soil types, recognise and massively reduce the different types of weeds, know the difference between soil and types of compost, and grow an abundance of vegetables using the no dig method.
Kyle Books In Bloom: Growing, harvesting and arranging flowers all year round
Get all the inspiration you need for planting cut flowers, and fill your home with colour and the gorgeous scent of the garden year-round with In Bloom. Clare Nolan reveals her secrets for growing a bountiful harvest as well as styling spectacular homegrown displays in this beautifully designed book.
The RHS' Complete Gardener's Manual will help you choose plants that will thrive in your space, design a border for year-round colour, grasp different pruning techniques, discover how to protect your veg patch from pests, and make the best compost.
Do you want to attract more bees, birds, frogs and hedgehogs into your garden? In Wildlife Gardening for Everyone and Everything, Kate Bradbury teams up with the Wildlife Trusts and the RHS to help you discover how you can make your garden, balcony, doorstep or patio a haven for garden wildlife. You'll find handy charts, practical projects and fact files.
Gardener and TV presenter David Domoney is a firm believer that indoor plants can make 'a practical and emotional contribution to our wellbeing'. In this book, David explains the hard science behind the positive effect of the humble houseplant on wellness, and provides expert tips on how to keep your plants thriving, plus shares his top 50 life-enhancing houseplants.
DK RHS Encyclopedia of Garden Design: Planning, Building and Planting Your Perfect Outdoor Space
If you're looking for new garden ideas, the RHS Encyclopedia of Garden Design will guide you from planning to planting, such as choosing the correct materials for your structures and assessing your drainage, to laying patios, making ponds, and planting perennials.
Lorenz Books How to Create an Eco Garden: The practical guide to sustainable and greener gardening
This planet-friendly book is filled with ideas for creating your own eco garden on any scale, from a small courtyard to a large garden or allotment. Discover organic techniques that improve biodiversity, learn the value of using recycled and reclaimed materials for landscaping, and take on simple projects such as making a pond and a wildlife hotel.
Drawing on expert advice from the RHS, this best-selling reference book – organised by colour, size, and type, rather than as an A-Z directory – will help you select the right varieties for your outdoor space.
Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd Build a Better Vegetable Garden: 30 DIY Projects to Improve your Harvest
Joyce and Ben Russell have devised 30 kitchen garden projects, devised to either extend the season, protect crops from pests or improve yields. These projects transform your vegetable plot into somewhere more productive, more attractive and more secure.
Olivia Heath is the Daily Editor at House Beautiful. Heading up all things digital, Olivia loves uncovering tomorrow's biggest design trends and sharing the best decorating tips, small-space living solutions, and houseplant care advice. She also enjoys curating stylish and affordable homeware on the high street, as well as spotlighting the hottest properties on the market. Olivia covers some of the biggest events in the calendar, including all the action from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Colour of the Year forecasts from Pantone to Dulux, and exclusive previews of all the new Christmas collections before they hit the shops. Olivia has been writing about homes and interiors for the past seven years, and her work has also been published on House Beautiful US, Elle Decor US, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, Red, Prima, Town & Country, Elle Japan, Modern Living and Micasa Revista. Prior to joining House Beautiful, Olivia worked at Reveal magazine, where she reported on celebrity and entertainment news by day, and attended showbiz parties and red carpet events by night! Olivia has an MA in Journalism with an NCTJ qualification, as well as a BA in Journalism and Media & Cultural Studies. Previous bylines include The Guardian, Independent on Sunday, The Huffington Post, Frontline Club and Pride Magazine.
